It’s always a surprise to me when someone passes on one of those very thoughtful and kind blog awards. I’m a tiny and insignificant little fish in the big food blogging world so when someone thinks well enough of me for one of these, it really is an honor.

This Kreativ Blogger award came from Susan at Food Blogga. Thank you Susan, your blog inspires me a great deal and your recipes are always creative and delicious, with the added edge of good nutrition.

Of course, the rules state that you may pass it on to five bloggers of your choosing. This part is always hard for me because I want to give it to everyone, but after careful consideration, here are my choices:

All of these bloggers inspire me in some form and give me a push to reach deeper in my own kitchen. Really, there are tons more of them who do that very thing so it truly was hard to choose. You five know what to do now.

And as for today’s food holiday, well it’s really not that exciting; It’s National Sardines Day.

Ugh.

I can’t help the ‘Ugh’. I’m pretty biased against them, as my sister and I discussed over the weekend. When we were little, our dad used to make sardine sandwiches and we would watch, often in fascinated horror as he would slowly unroll the top of the thin can to reveal the smelly little fishes inside, then press them between bread and take a big satisfactory bite. It was like a wreck on the road- you don’t want to watch but you can’t tear your eyes away. The smell of them still is with me; I can’t even begin to think I could eat them, no matter what you did with them or how you prepared them. Still, I would love to hear of success stories with sardines. It might give me something more pleasant to think about than my odoriferous memories.

Sardines, or Pilchards, are small oily fishes in the same family as Herring. There is some debate over what constitutes one or the other; some say that if the fish is less than 4″ long, it’s a sardine (considered a young European Pilchard), if it’s longer than 4″ it’s a Pilchard. The canned version that I remember are almost always Sprats, or Brisling Sardines, which are also known as Round Herring. Good quality canned sardines, by whatever name they are, should have the heads and fins removed and be properly eviscerated. Fresh Sardines are a favorite food in some cultures of India, and fried Sardines are an especially sought-after delicacy. Sardines are very important to Portugese culture as well, and tradition has it that on June 13th, which is Saint Anthony’s Day, the most popular festival food is grilled sardines, which is a huge summertime treat all throughout the country. The tiny fish is very healthy; it’s chock full of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids and is typically referred to as ‘brain food’. They are also an excellent source of calcium, B12, protein and Vitamin D. They are generally very low in mercury.

But none of this health information is ever going to steer me into the fan club of Sardines.